“Not anymore, you’re not.”
I blinked at him stupidly. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You will not be going to work today. In fact, you will not be working at all. Maybe in a few months, when you have learned the ropes on how to be a wife and run my household, you can look for some charities to support. It’s very important that we are seen to be charitable. I think you would agree.”
I didn’t think Alexei had a charitable bone in his body. That’s what I thought.
“I like my job.”
He flicked the newspaper at the side of his plate open angrily, lifting it over his face so I couldn’t read his expression. Not that I needed to. He was angry and sullen because he was always those things.
“Alexei, please.” Maybe if I begged, he would let me go back. “I can do both, I don’t even have to go back full-time. Let’s compromise.”
He smashed the paper down with so much force that the glassware rattled. “The answer is no, Amy. You will have too much to do here. Running the house, learning how to be a good wife. You don’t need to worry about the financial side of things. I’ve even gone so far as to payoff your lease. Yours and your sisters’ belongings have gone into storage.”
He didn’t get it. I didn’t just work because I had to. I actually enjoyed being useful and helping people, but there was no way Alexei, who was Mr. Cold and Heartless would understand that.
“Thank you, but you didn’t need to do that.”
“Of course, I did. You’re my wife. You don’t need another property.”
Sucking in a breath, I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart. He was doing all of this to trap me. He didn’t want me to have an escape plan if this marriage went south, which it already seemed to be doing.
He hadn’t even come back to bed last night. I had woken up alone. That’s how much he wanted this marriage to work.
“OK. I would not cry. I would not cry. “Thank you.”
“You sound like an ungrateful child, Amy. I would have thought you would show more gratitude for being able to spend more time with your sister.”
It was my turn to look at him in shock and bewilderment. “My sister?”
“Yes, I had a call from the doctors this morning. She woke up and is doing much better. I informed them that you would be along to visit.” His dark eyes searched my face. “That is what you want, isn’t it?”
The empty pit of dread that I had been feeling since I woke up snapped shut. “More than anything.” Without thinking, I was on my feet and almost running around the table to him.
Reaching down, I meant to kiss his cheek, but at the last minute, he turned his face, and my lips landed squarely on his. In the same instant, his tongue flicked across my bottom lip.
“Oh, I am so sorry.” I stumbled backwards. What the hell had just happened? Had he been about to deepen the kiss? Because it felt like he had been about to.
“I’m happy that you are excited and happy, Amy,” he went back to his paper. “But maybe learn to control yourself in a more ladylike manner.” Ten seconds passed before he looked at me again. “I have toget some work done. As long as you introduce yourself to the staff and arrange this week’s menu with them, you may spend the rest of the day with your sister. I like dinner at 7 p.m. You will be here for that. Is that understood?”
He was talking and treating me like a child, but my sister was awake, and I get to see her, so I really didn’t care.
“What work do you have to do today, Alexei?” I asked, slipping back into my seat and reaching for an orange. Now that I knew my sister was awake, I could eat without feeling sick.
He stood. “That’s really none of your business. I will see you at dinner.”
He walked away, leaving me sitting there alone the day after my wedding with a half-peeled orange. One breath and then another, and I smiled and went back to peeling my orange.
I’d been dreading today since the moment I had woken up, but now I wasn’t so sure it would be bad at all.
“You look worsethan I do, Amy,” my sister said, her bloodshot eyes appraising me. “And I am dying.”
“You are not dying, Alessia,” I said quickly, maybe too quickly, before her pale lips lifted in a smile. “Don’t say things like that. You’re going to get better, and then we are going to travel the world just like we planned.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, we are, even if my heart gets fixed, how do you suggest we pay for this trip around the world? Like how did you pay for this hospital, Amy?”
She’d asked that question in many forms since I had arrived a few hours ago, and every time I had side-stepped the question.
